Eucamerotus
| Eucamerotus Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauriformes |
| Genus: | Eucamerotus Hulke, 1871 |
| Binomial name | |
| Eucamerotus foxi Blows, 1995 | |
Eucamerotus (meaning "well-chambered" in reference to the hollows of the vertebrae) was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation (Wealden) of the Isle of Wight, England. It is known from vertebral remains, and a partial skeleton has been referred, although this has not been accepted.
History and taxonomy
John Hulke named the genus from several partial dorsal vertebrae found by William D. Fox near Brighstone Bay: NHMUK R2522 (a neural arch), and NHMUK R88, NHMUK R89, NHMUK R90 (two dorsal vertebrae), and NHMUK R2524 (a dorsal from a juvenile).[1][2] He did not provide it with a species name nor select a holotype, and within a few years thought that it was the same as Ornithopsis hulkei.[3] Other authors preferred Pelorosaurus as a synonym.[4][5][6]
William T. Blows resurrected the genus in 1995 as a valid brachiosaurid, added the specific name foxi, selected BMNH R2522 as the type specimen, designated the other finds as paratypes and referred additional vertebrae and partial skeleton MIWG-BP001 to it.[7] This last point has not been generally accepted;[2][8] unfortunately, this skeleton has never been officially described.
Naish and Martill (2001) suggested Eucamerotus was a dubious brachiosaurid, and did not find Blows' characters convincing.[2] Upchurch et al. (2004) considered it to be a dubious sauropod.[8] Santucci and Bertini (2005), however, suggested it was a titanosaurian.[9] However, a recent review of Wealden sauropods from the UK places Eucamerotus at Titanosauriformes incertae sedis.[10]
Paleobiology
The vertebrae are around twenty centimetres long. If a brachiosaurid, Eucamerotus may have been around 15 m (49.2 ft) long,[2] small for a sauropod. As any kind of sauropod, it would have been a quadrupedal herbivore.[8]
References
- ↑ Hulke, J. W. (1872). "Appendix to a "Note on a new and undescribed Wealden Vertebra," read 9th February 1870, and published in the Quarterly Journal for August in the same year". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. 28: 36. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1872.028.01-02.15.
- 1 2 3 4 Naish, D., and Martill, D.M. (2001). Saurischian dinosaurs 1: Sauropods. In: Martill, D.M., and Naish, D. (eds.). Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. The Palaeontological Association:London 185-241. ISBN 0-901702-72-2
- ↑ Hulke, J. W. (1879). "Note (3rd) on (Eucamerotus, Hulke) Ornithopsis, H. G. Seeley, = Bothriospondylus magnus, Owen, = Chondrosteosaurus magnus, Owen". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. 35: 752–762. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1879.035.01-04.55.
- ↑ von Huene, F. (1909). Skizze zu einer Systematik und Stammesgeschichte der Dinosaurier. Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie 1909:12-22. [German]
- ↑ Romer, A.S. (1956). Osteology of the Reptiles. University of Chicago Press:Chicago 1-772. ISBN 0-89464-985-X
- ↑ Steel, R. (1970). Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Part 14. Gustav Fischer Verlag:Stuttgart p. 1-87.
- ↑ Blows, W.T. (1995). "The Early Cretaceous brachiosaurid dinosaurs Ornithopsis and Eucamerotus from the Isle of Wight, England" (PDF). Palaeontology. 38 (1): 187–197.
- 1 2 3 Upchurch, P.M., Barrett, P.M., and Dodson, P. (2004). Sauropoda. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd edition). University of California Press:Berkeley 259-322. ISBN 0-520-24209-2
- ↑ Santucci, R.M., and Bertini, R.J. (2005). On the phylogenetic relationships of Eucamerotus foxi (Sauropoda, Saurischia), from Wessex Formation, Lower Cretaceous, England (UK). In: Kellner, A.W.A., Henriques, D.D.R., and Rodrigues, T. (eds.). II Congresso Latino-Americano de Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Boletim de Resumos. Museum Nacional/UFRJ:Rio de Janeiro, 242-243.
- ↑ Upchurch, P., Mannion, P. D. & Barrett, P. M. 2011. Sauropod dinosaurs. In Batten, D. J. (ed.) English Wealden Fossils. The Palaeontological Association (London), pp. 476-525.